Jasper

Me and fighting31irsh were in the front seat, both wearing our respectable MLB team hats so yeah that probably was us. I need to get to know people on here better, everytime I am at the park it seems like I never see a KIC'er.

I saw you guys before we entered the park for ERT we were about 1 metal detector over but then I did not see anyone from KIC besides Gabe a couple of times for the rest of the day. Looks like you all had an experience on Racer having to walk down, sounds interesting.

How about this guy?

Found a big sign last night at the park.

First off let me say welcome to the KIC Community, glad to have you as a member. The park was very crowded yesterday indeed and I did not know Invertigo lost a wheel, first time I have ever heard of it doing that.

If you are reffering to the Starlight lighting it got on the back last year, then no it is not, only the generic lights remain on the front, the back however is still lit up with the Starlight package.

The webcam really does not do this thing any justice at all, until you are looking up at it or riding by it on Racer, then you realize that it is huge. Even the ride carriage itself is giant. The lighting package at night is also very nice and looks almost like a carnival ride sometimes.

Have drinks in the vending machines always been 4 dollars?

I am looking forward to it very much, the view will be spectacular and I am sure that the ride will be more intense than it really looks. By the way, according to the new map WindSeeker is given a 4 rating.

^I thought both sides of The Racer were running great yesterday, the ride seemed to be smoother and I managed to get some great airtime. The view of WindSeeker is also breathtaking when you ride it. You really do nt know how big it is until you ride by it.

I have always wanted to go on a buyout day for a company, are the crowds usually significantly less or more?

Is the park closed today for a private event or something because it looks like there is people exiting Vortex on the webcam? Sadly if it does open this weekend, I will not be able to make it to the park for the opening, I might be able to do Sunday however we will just have to wait and see.

The entrance plaza looks fantastic, it does not look like there are quite enough que's however, but then again I could be wrong. I cannot wait to see this thing in action.

Renewed my Platinum Pass online about a week or two ago and the parking worked fine and the entrance to the park worked fine.

Alright here is where the hiccups began. We boarded Blue Racer and got on the ride like normal only to get stuck in the shed on the brake run, about a 10-15 minute delay at the most. After this we battled through the midway and decided to go over and ride Flight Deck and a take a look at it's new paint scheme. It looks very nice with the new paint, but still the same ole Flight Deck. Got on the ride only to get stuck in the brake run before the station, about a 15 minute delay once again. So after we have now had two rides in a row break down on us we decided to try our luck on The Crypt and see the new "Ride Enhancements." Go over to Rivertown to find The Beast was down due to technical reasons, and the Crypt was backed all the way down the midway close to The Beast entrance plaza, but we waited anyway. The line ended up being about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The new queue line look very nice, the addition of lighting throughout, the new demons in front of The Bat, and doors actually close so you cannot see the ride running now. Well we sit down on the Crypt and were ready to go until they released our restraints and said the ride was down due to technical difficulties, waited out back by the exit for about 20 minutes and then got on the ride. I still was not impressed with the short cycle of The Crypt or the ride experience. At this point we thought the day was going downhill until we got farther into the day and Vortex opened up along side the Red Racer. We also got a nice view of WindSeeker from Vortex exit and when you are on the ride the tower lines up perfectly with the loops and the hill going into the turn and trim brakes. Bottom line really is that we got to ride everything but Firehawk, due to the fact that it only had one side running most of the day, Delirium, another huge line, and Invertigo, because of the awful capacity it has. I have never seen an opening day where so many rides were down throughout the day and people were complaining. I understand that it is opening day and not all rides are going to run 100%, I am not complaining. I just think that maybe they could do a better job of ensuring rides staying open and planning some rides to be open or not. Overall I had a great day at the park, Coney Mall looks fantastic and with the addition of WindSeeker it is going to look even better. The ride looks great at night and you can see it from all over the park. The new music on The Beast was a nice addition, really added to the experience while waiting in line and on the ride. The park looks great and I am really looking forward to a great 2011 season, one Dinos Alive and WindSeeker get going I am sure that the park will get things in full swing. Great day at Kings Island!

Via KI Twitter. I actually made the video for a split second at the start.

Nice TR, but if you would have stayed until I guess around 7'ish I think, the lines started to die down a bit, and by die down I mean that they were no longer spilling into the midway, except for The Beast.

I did not get to see the evac of The Racer, but I did break down in the tunnel for about 15 minutes earlier in the day. Don't know if anyone saw me, I was wearing a Boston Red Sox hat and a CP Coastermania 2010 hoodie. I bet it was interesting getting walked down from a lift hill.

I ended up having a good day at the park but it started out looking dismal. Got to the park around 7:30, waited to park. Got up to the metal detectors to wait and was about 8 people back, when I look behind me and the whole plaza had filled up. Get in the park, run to Diamondback to see a line flowing into the pathway, they finally opened the top set of stials and they filled up before I even got on the ride, knew it was going to be packed. After that, sprinted to Flight of Fear, I was the first and only person in the hangar and me and fighting31irish got front seat first train of the year, with the lights on in the bowl I might add. More to come tomorrow, more in depth, right now after being up since 5 AM on 1 hour of sleep I think I need to get some rest. I will elaborate more tomorrow.

Try waiting an hour and fifteen minutes to see the new ride enhancements, only to get on the ride, it break down, wait 15-20 more minutes and get a ride.

That is a beautiful photo Paul, thank you for curing the off-season blues.

That just made my entire day.

I am going to use the same method i used last year and get there earlier than usual, for me at least, line up at the metal detectors, and then it is the running of the bulls to Diam...err....Vortex. Or WindSeeker depending on what is open.

It might not take long, but I assume testing does take time, and say they do get the seats installed and on within 30 minutes tomorrow, I still dont believe they can just fire her up and start testing. I think were going to have to hold off to ride WindSeeker. The only thing that has me guessing is why the park hasn't announced whether it will be closed or open Saturday, baffles me. As for the Media Day speculations, I was listening to an old In The Loop Podcast last night at work and I was listening to one live from the Skyhawk media day at CP. I believe that if Skyhawk got a media day for CP, then WindSeeker should get one for Kings Island, being a first of it's kind attraction and seeing as it is giant on a swing scale.

So say by some off chance that all the seats are installed today on the ride, could it be open for opening day perhaps? That leaves 2 full days to test.